Burned-out and boarded-up house in Flemington, now just 'nice, flat ground'

FLEMINGTON — Phil Greiner, the councilman in charge of property maintenance, was “delighted to report” on Monday, Nov. 18, “that the burned-out house at Church and Brown is finally down. There’s nothing left but nice, flat ground with fresh bulldozer tread marks on it.”

“And before Thanksgiving,” said Mayor Erica Edwards. “That’s great.”

“And it’s safe,” said Council President Phil Velella.

Last month borough officials had been getting impatient to see the demolition of the boarded-up house, which was literally across the street from the Turntable Junction shopping area.

The multi-family house, which fronted on both streets, was gutted by flames on May 14. The fire may have been caused by a 4-year-old playing with a cigarette lighter, police said at the time.

At the Oct. 28 council meeting, Edwards said that in addition to safety concerns, “it would be really frustrating if it is still up as Thanksgiving approaches” and neighbors would “have holiday guests see that awful sight, and people going to Liberty Village to shop having to look at that.”

At that meeting Greiner reminded council that on July 1 it had “authorized the construction official to take action, if he needed to, to take the building down ourselves. We didn’t do that” because the estate was being settled, and now the new owner, Sue Nief, has hired a demolition company, which has acquired the necessary permit. Work had started on Oct. 25 and now it is finished.